ΟΙ ΑΙΤΙΕΣ ΤΗΣ ΓΕΝΕΣΗΣ ΚΑΙ ΤΟΥ ΤΕΛΟΥΣ ΜΙΑΣ ΦΙΛΙΑΣ ΚΑΤΑ ΤΟΝ ΑΡΙΣΤΟΤΕΛΗ

The article discusses in which way and why friendships are born and dissolve according to Aristotle. This question leads to an investigation into the nature of friendship. For the study of the nature and the birth of friendship we will refer to a passage of the Eudemian Ethics; for quarrels and the dissolution of friendships, we will refer to a passage from the Nicomachean Ethics, because in the Eudemian this point is discussed only briefly. Regarding the first question, the aporiai of friendship cannot be resolved like those of happiness, i.e. by reaching a definition. One must look for a more flexible way of unifying the notion of «friendship», without making neither the mistake of leaving outside most of the things that people call «friendship» nor the mistake of neglecting the specificities of the first form of friendship. The ruptures of friendships arise when the end to which friendship tends is not realized, and therefore the final cause is not attained. The ways in which friendships end up conform to their nature. Perfect friendship will be more stable and almost immutable, the others will be much less steady. But only utilitarian friendships give rise to recriminations. Recriminations arise because everyone thinks to have the right to have more of what he gives. One might even ask to what extent these utilitarian friendships can be considered true friendships